MediEvil was a series I’ve never gotten around to for some reason despite being a longtime gamer on PlayStation. But since the PS1 version was recently added to the PS+ classics with a remaster and trophy support, and with the rumors of an upcoming remake of the sequel, I figured it a good time to check out the original.
I don’t know what took me so long, because this game was pure fun from start to finish.
- A 3D hack n slash platformer with metroidvania characteristics. You have the ability to replay any levels you’ve beaten in order to unlock paths and secrets in the level you couldn’t previously get to until you acquire new abilities and weapons. The level structure actually reminds me of Doom of all games, where you go about the level looking for colored keycards in order to unlock doors and gates and further progress in the level. Only in this case, you’re looking for colored runes instead of keycards.
- Great sense of exploration for a PS1 game, with over 20 levels that are all varied and unique. Interesting environments such as underground catacombs, graveyards, forests, scarecrow fields, a flying ghost ship, the inside of an ant colony, to name a few. The levels have lots of hidden areas tucked away when they are explored thoroughly.
- Much more varied arsenal of weaponry to use than I anticipated. Each level has a golden chalice you have to find and can only collect if you’ve killed enough enemies in the level. Once you collect the chalice for that level, you get transported to the “Hall of Heroes” which is kind of like a central hub where you can turn in your chalices for rewards and new weapons. By the end of the game you have anything from magic bows, an axe, lightning magic, spears, to throwing knives, various swords and shields, even chicken drumsticks that turn enemies into cooked chicken that you can eat to restore health.
- It’s got that gothic vibe throughout reminiscent of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, with macabre visuals and dark imagery, but at the same time retains a sense of humor to the whole thing.
- One negative I have to point out that I’ve read throughout the years and have to agree with is the camera in this game. Trying to manually rotate it can be a real pain and it often feels like it’s fighting against you. I personally just stopped trying to wrestle with it and let it rotate the way it wants to on its own while controlling Sir Daniel Fortesque, but it does leave you at times in some undesirable camera angles when you have platforming sections. A glaring flaw in an otherwise great game.
Overall it still holds up well today, so I imagine it must have been a very impressive title when it released in 1998. I was hooked from start to finish over the two days it took me to platinum, which was around 12 hours in total. In fact, I liked the game so much that I’ve decided to eventually also play through the PSP version,
MediEvil Resurrection, as well as the PS4 remake just to see how they differ from the original.